Thursday, 13 November 2025

 David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (11:51): I move:

That this house:

(1)   notes that:

(a) the Foodbank Hunger Report 2025 estimated that 3.5 million households experienced food insecurity in the past 12 months;

(b) The Salvation Army’s Red Shield Report 2025: Struggling to Survive, surveyed almost 3600 community members who accessed assistance from the Doorways emergency relief services in the past year and reported that:

(i) 90 per cent of respondents found that it was difficult to afford essential living costs, such as housing, groceries, medical care and utilities over the past 12 months;

(ii) 53 per cent of respondents were unable to afford public transport or fuel for their vehicle;

(iii) 85 per cent of respondents experienced some form of food insecurity in the past year;

(iv) 62 per cent of respondents with children admitted to going without food so their children could eat;

(c) charities are reporting increased operating costs at the same time as they are experiencing increased demand;

(2)   acknowledges the important work of many charities and non-profit organisations who provide relief for people struggling with essential needs, such as food and housing; and

(3)   commends the generosity of tens of thousands of Victorians who donate time, money and resources for those in need.

Today in south-east Melbourne and probably every other electorate, thousands of people are sitting down to food provided by charities and clothing their kids with donated goods. I am pleased to take just a little time to acknowledge the generosity of donors and the vital role that charities play in Victoria. Charities have existed for as long as people have helped each other. In Victoria the first legislation regulating what were then known as friendly societies was passed in 1855. Interestingly, prior to the Great Depression, Victoria was actually one of the world leaders in friendly societies and had a thriving number of friendly societies. Indeed, before I was elected to Parliament, I worked for a company that was historically a friendly society. The one that I used to work for was the Independent Order of Oddfellows (IOOF), and they were originally set up to provide for widows that were left destitute if their husbands passed away in the goldfields. Friendly societies evolved further, considering that at the time there was very little welfare from the government. But certainly welfare did exist.

What people used to do is they would have a friendly society, often related to their trade – although in IOOF the OF stands for Oddfellows, and they were people not related to a specific trade – and they would be democratically allowed into the friendly society. The other members would decide on whether or not to allow people into the friendly society, whether they were in good standing. Then if they lost their job, the other members in the friendly society would provide them with a payment. In current-day terms, if you take into account inflation, what they got from their friendly society is actually more than what you get for the dole these days. Of course the other members of the friendly society were incentivised to find them a job because they would have to pay for their benefits until they got a job.

Also, friendly societies used to provide doctors and many other services, including pensions for widows, and many other things in Victoria, and it was a thriving thing that happened. Unfortunately, what happened during the Great Depression was there was a massive expansion of the role of the state in providing welfare, but many of these friendly societies continued on and they evolved. They existed in the spaces where government did not provide welfare, so things like retirement plans, life insurance – those sorts of things. Ultimately, many of these companies still exist today. Indeed, the company that I used to work for primarily does financial advice and superannuation and that sort of thing. Some of the other ones evolved into life insurance companies and they still exist to this day, although with a very different role from what they were originally set up for. But life insurance is quite similar, I guess, to what they were doing in providing for destitute women.

But if you want to see the effectiveness of voluntary giving in action, I recommend that you spend a little time at a place called BK 2 Basics in Narre Warren in my electorate. Years ago Kelly and Craig Warren noticed many people in their community were struggling to feed their families and started providing them with food out of their garage. Demand for their services pretty soon outgrew their garage, and a generous person stepped in to provide a shed in an industrial estate. With more generous help from corporate donors like Costco, Kelly and Craig work their fingers to the bone providing the basics to over 7000 people every week. They tailor help for people, for example, by providing a special pack for domestic violence victims so that they can set themselves up from scratch in a safe house. Many times, it is the very practical things needed when someone is escaping domestic violence, for example. It is very expensive if you have fled a house to get all the basic stuff that you need, like shampoo and soap and toothpaste and toilet paper and nappies and all the other basic stuff that you need to survive. Many people in these situations do not have the cash to pay for all that, so I think it is a wonderful thing that we have organisations like this that are helping out our fellow Victorians who are hitting a rough patch in their life. They also hold special events so that nobody misses out, for example, on a Christmas party. They provide much more than groceries; they provide community and dignity for people who are doing it tough. I think it is worth mentioning that government has been less a help to BK 2 Basics in recent years than a burden. In particular the red tape from Casey council threatens their very existence and provides Kelly and Craig with enormous stress. But to their credit, Kelly and Craig are powering through because they know how important their work is.

The charities in my electorate are also quietly working with youth at the front line to divert them from a life of crime. They provide bottom-up solutions by helping young people address drug and alcohol dependency and providing diversion programs, introducing them to more sensible things like sports and these sorts of things. Governments at all levels should recognise the enormous benefits they provide by getting out of the way, providing tax breaks and cutting them just a little bit of slack at a local government level. The charity sector is an enormous force for good in Victoria that is supported by great people and powered by actual heroes, and I commend this motion to the house.

 Jacinta ERMACORA (Western Victoria) (11:57): I thank Mr Limbrick for bringing this motion forward, and I have enjoyed the process of reflecting on the balance between the private and public charitable sectors and the role of the state. Even your phrase about a historic thing called ‘destitute women’ made me immediately think of the Whitlam government and the changes that were made that allowed women to get divorced, and then the Paul Keating government that split the welfare system so it was not from a family household perspective but from an individual perspective, so that a woman in her own right would receive a pension or a payment relevant to her needs, rather than being able to access payments only through her husband or partner. That is what I would call, historically, the state-sanctioned destitution of women. So yes, there are a lot of things to think about when I reflect on your motion.

Increased cost-of-living pressures mean that many families are doing it tough and increasingly seeking food relief and emergency support. My own electorate in Western Victoria is not immune. The ongoing drought has added to the pressures on not just our farming families but the businesses and communities that rely on farmers for their income. I will go into a bit more detail on that after the delights of question time. The Warrnambool Standard reported on 3 June this year that 200 tonnes of emergency food is expected to be distributed across the region this year by Western District Food Share. This is an increase of 187 tonnes from last year, and that is why our government invested $6 million in the 2025–26 state budget to support the operations of the state’s six regional food shares, of which the Western District Food Share based in Warrnambool is one. That investment was part of a total of $18 million allocated to continue strengthening food security across Victoria.

Business interrupted pursuant to sessional orders.